Foster

Care for puppies and kittens without mom. Intensive but rewarding work!

Kittens!

Foster mom and her kittens until they’re old enough to be spayed or neutered and adopted.

Sick and Injured Pets

Care for sick and injured pets while they recover.

Bottle Babies

Care for puppies and kittens without mom. Intensive but rewarding work!

Kittens!

Foster mom and her kittens until they’re old enough to be spayed or neutered and adopted.

Sick and Injured Pets

Care for sick and injured pets while they recover.

Willamette Humane Society’s foster care program plays a vital role in saving lives. Each year, the shelter receives more than 6,000 animals – many in need of special care.

Foster parents provide a temporary home and care for animals that may be too young for adoption, are recovering from injury or illness, or may need some behavioral training prior to being put up for adoption. These homes help alleviate the stress on the shelter’s capacity, staff, and resources during critical times.

Every month, there are 100-200 cats, kittens, dogs and puppies cared for by volunteer foster families. We have an animal for every home, but often do not have enough homes for every animal in need. Typically, animals are in foster homes for two to eight weeks.

Please consider opening your heart and home to a foster animal. You must complete the volunteer orientation prior to applying, but we can promise that your commitment helps save lives and lasts a lifetime.

Fostering

We appreciate your willingness to open your heart and home to homeless animals. Your dedication allows our organization to rescue animals we would not otherwise have the resources to adopt out.

The guiding mission of the Foster Care Program is to give animals individualized care, training and socialization to prepare them for adoption. Additionally, information gathered during the foster process helps us place animals in homes and with families who can best meet their needs.

Specific goals of the program include:

Providing a safe, healthy, nurturing environment for nursing cats and dogs, as well as puppies and kittens too young to be in the shelter.

Providing behavioral and obedience training to dogs and puppies.

Giving our long-term residents time away from the shelter in a home setting.

Socializing shy or timid cats and dogs.

Allowing sick or injured cats and dogs to heal in a relaxing, uplifting environment.

Are They Warm?

The greatest single danger to abandoned kittens is chilling. A kitten separated from its mother will not live long. Prolonged exposure to cold results in a drop of body temperature and, if it drops below the blood sugar level, the kitten’s internal organs begin a systematic shutdown. If you find abandoned kittens and they feel cold to the touch, hyperthermia has set in and the kitten’s condition is critical.

Here are some techniques you can use to warm the kitten as safely as possible:

Place a heating pad down the side of a cardboard box and half way beneath the box. You may also use a water bottle filled with warm/hot water, wrapped in a towel.

Put a towel in the bottom of the box. Place the heating pad on the LOW temperature setting. Make sure the heating pad does not cover the entire bottom, so the kitten can move off it if it needs to. If a kitten is cold and needs to be warmed before feeding, you can administer .01cc of Karo Syrup Light orally or by rubbing it on the gums of the kitten. This will help to raise the blood sugar level and stabilize the kitten while it warms. If you don’t have Karo Syrup you can mix a solution of warm water and sugar in equal parts and administer .01cc. Once the kitten’s body temperature has warmed it can receive its first formula. Baby kittens have only a very small amount of body fat and must be fed frequently and in the right amounts to maintain adequate blood sugar levels and provide energy for metabolism. Small, weak kittens do best if they are fed every four hours for the first four days. If they cannot take the amount of formula as shown below, they should be fed more frequently with a lesser amount.

AGE IN WEEKS

AVERAGE WEIGHT

Feedings
per day

CCs each feeding

TOTAL CCs PER DAY

1

4 oz.

6

5cc

32cc

2

7 oz.

4

14cc

56cc

3

10 oz.

3

26cc

80cc

4

13 oz.

3

34cc

104cc

5

1 lb.

3

42cc

128cc

Feeding Methods

Bottle feeding is the preferred method, although some kittens will not suckle on a bottle right away. If this occurs, you can use a syringe to feed the kitten. Follow the same methods as with bottle feeding; just be very careful not to force too much liquid at one time as this may cause fluid to build up in the lungs.

Warm the formula until it feels warm on your wrist. You can warm it in the microwave, but make sure you shake it and place a little on your wrist to make sure it is not too HOT. Place the kitten on its stomach to bottle feed to avoid having the milk run into the kitten’s windpipe. Encourage suckling by keeping a slight pull of the bottle. Do not squeeze formula into the kitten’s mouth as it can go down to fast and make the kitten aspirate.
After each meal a kitten MUST be stimulated to urinate and defecate. Massage the kitten’s anal area with a warm, damp, cotton ball or tissue. This will provide the necessary stimulation. You usually have to continue this stimulation until the kitten is about 3 weeks old and can go on its own.

If your kitten appears restless and cries excessively check to make sure it is getting enough food. As this is a sign of being underfed and can also lead to dehydration and death.

When a kitten is three weeks old you can begin to train it to eat out of a bowl. You can mix the formula with Gerber’s turkey and broth baby food. You can also mix Gerber Rice Cereal with the formula and offer this in a bowl or add a slight bit of the cereal to the bottle when feeding. Continue bottle feeding until you know that the kitten is eating adequately on its own.

A healthy kitten will weigh 3-4 ounces at birth and begin to gain weight rapidly a few days after birth. They should double their weight by one week.

Chart of the normal weight ranges for kittens

All kittens are born with closed eyes and closed ear canals. They can neither see nor hear during the first few days of life. Kittens find their way to a mother’s nipple by sense of smell and tactile sensations. The ear canals will begin to open at 5-8 days of life. Eyes begin to open at 8 days and are completely open at 14 days. All kittens are born with blue eyes and their true colors appear when they are three weeks old.